This invention relates to the bleaching and removal of mycological stain, e.g., molds or mildew. More particularly, a novel composition and method are provided for the bleaching and removal of mycological stains such as those which grow in older buildings beneath wall coverings (such as wall paper) and in other areas of high humidity such as bathrooms.
For many years, various solutions have been used to remove mycological stains i.e., the discoloration produced by chromatophoric bodies in fungal growth. A particularly successful class of solutions for removal (i.e., the oxidative decolorization of objectionable brown or black color along with the cleavage of attachment and structure-providing bonds of the fungus) of such stains are aqueous solutions of hypohalite salts, particularly hypochlorite. Hypochlorite solutions, particularly sodium hypochlorite solutions, have been found to bleach mycological stain, i.e., to oxidize or remove color producing bodies, and make to such bodies easier to flush from the surfaces on which they have grown. While conventional hypohalite solutions do remove mycological stain at typical concentrations, such solutions suffer the drawbacks of being slow in bleaching the stain and of having a tendency to "run" when applied to vertical surfaces.